Knicks Move on Without Mitch

New York gets devastating news on their backup center, who will be gone for the rest of the playoffs.

Good morning. It feels like Game 1 just ended, and already we’re on to the next one. That’s how this series is going to go until after Game 5 when (should we need it) there will be two days off before Game 6. No rest for the weary.

Even so, spirits were high until about 8:20 last night, when we all got some tough news…

Game Night

TONIGHT: Pacers at Knicks, 8 pm, TNT

Injury Report: About two hours after the Knicks ruled him out for Game 2 due to “injury management”, it was announced that Mitchell Robinson would be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks due to a stress injury in his left ankle.

For Robinson, this is the latest brutal blow in a career that has become increasingly filled with bad luck. After missing a portion of his rookie season and the vast majority of his third, including New York’s first round matchup with the Hawks, Mitch made it back on the court for a mostly healthy fourth year that gave the organization enough faith to sign him to a contract extension.

Even though he missed 23 games last season, he largely repaid their faith, dominating the Knicks first round series with Cleveland. Early on this season, he parlayed that success into All-Defense level play over the first 21 games before sustaining a stress fracture in his left ankle against Boston. He made it back onto the court a few weeks before the end of the regular season, but never fully looked like himself despite showing flashes, and now his season is over.

Let us not forget: the Knicks do not win Game 1 against Philly without Robinson’s impeccable defense on Joel Embiid, and there’s an argument that they’d be in Cancun by now were it not for his contributions in round one.

The good news, if there is any, is that surgery will reportedly not be required at this time. Robinson is only 26 years old, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t have a long career ahead of him, very possibly with the Knicks.

But now, as they have done so many times already, New York must turn the page. They will officially finish the season with more than half of the presumed rotation before the season - RJ, IQ, Mitch, Grimes and Julius - either gone or injured. All that matters now is how they respond. Here are some immediate questions to ponder in the immediate aftermath of the news: